Chapter 229
Chapter 229
Chapter 229
Short Vacation (1)
In the worldview of , angels were born as a race meant to serve the gods.
However, even though their purpose of creation was service, angels were blessed beings who possessed longer lifespans and superior magic sensitivity than any other race on earth.
When they reached the highest ranks, they wielded such tremendous power that even most gods couldn't touch them, and they could awaken divinity simply through the passage of time without any special training.
"So what does it matter? We're still at the mercy of the gods' whims anyway."
After the meeting of the highest-ranking angels ended.
Among them, the twelve seraphim called 'Archangels' remained to hold a second meeting.
"Yesterday, ten of my subordinate angels died to that bastard Barakas again. Damn it, what kind of drunken stupor is this god in?"
Raguel, who had the foulest mouth among them, opened fire with profanity.
"For nearly a thousand years, there's been nothing major happening on earth, so only our children are dying. I agree with Michael's opinion. Whether they die or not, we need to overthrow them once and for all."
Clear hatred dwelt in Raguel's eyes.
Especially since the angels under her command were mainly tasked with attending to the gods, she was in a position to witness the gods' disgraceful behavior up close more than anyone.
And accordingly, her disillusionment and hatred toward her creators was also the greatest.
"But Michael's statement is too hasty."
The one who offered a dissenting opinion in response to Raguel's words was Barakiel, a scholarly-looking archangel wearing glasses.
"What, Barakiel? Don't tell me you're going to betray us now?"
Raguel glared at Barakiel with blazing eyes.
Barakiel quietly shook his head.
"That's not it. What I want to say is that Lord Garganta, who always had our backs, has recently fallen into complete silence."
"Ugh! That's..."
Raguel made a groaning sound, and Barakiel continued while looking at her.
"Even setting aside Lord Ruura and Lord Haniel, who sympathize with our situation, and Lord Medaiel, who has no interest in heavenly affairs... if we want to maximize our chances of victory, Garganta's cooperation is essential."
Berus, North, Satera...
Among those two, North and Satera were famous for being warlike among the Seven Great Gods, and their forces were also mighty.
"The conclusion is that we lack military power. To head to the Creator God's temple, we need to break through the Pantheon's defenses, but we're far too short on forces for that."
"......"
At those reasonable words, the other archangels were left speechless.
"Barakiel's words have merit too."
The first to speak in the silence was Gabriel, who had persuaded Michael to rapidly advance this matter.
"Garganta's silence isn't for any other reason. It's because the outer space forces he trusted were swept away instead."
"So he really was in league with outer space?"
"What's so surprising about that? We were all speculating about it anyway."
Gabriel shrugged and continued.
"Anyway, the middle realm's victory is better for us. If Garganta and outer space had seized hegemony, we would have become boiled dogs too."
"That's not wrong."
"And there won't be a shortage of military power."
Gabriel's eyes turned toward Michael.
"Because Michael succeeded in persuading the Scribe."
"Ohhh!"
Immediately, intense reactions erupted from the surrounding archangels.
Metatron, the Scribe of Heaven.
A being who obtained divinity as an angel, and practically the only one who possessed a rank comparable to the Seven Great Gods.
Barakiel adjusted his glasses slightly and asked.
"How did you persuade that absolutely neutral one?"
Metatron had never interfered in any conflict in heaven until now.
Despite possessing that tremendous power and authority, he was someone who aimed only to record heaven's history.
That was the duty assigned to him since Genesis.
"He's greatly displeased with the Three Goddesses of Fate being imprisoned. It seems Michael attacked that point well."
"...Indeed!"
Barakiel's voice rose at Gabriel's words.
The Three Goddesses of Fate were beings deeply connected to the Creator God.
For Metatron, who received his mission from the Creator God rather than Berus, that point likely came as quite a significant grievance.
As the atmosphere became slightly chaotic, Michael began to bring up a sensitive topic with a solemn expression.
"The biggest problem in the current situation is whether Luciel can hold out until then."
"...!"
Immediately, the other archangels' expressions hardened.
Luciel, the last seat of the 12 Archangels.
Now called the Seventh Throne Lucifer and shunned in heaven, but in fact, her fall and becoming called a Demon King was something planned from this very meeting long ago.
"Actually, her condition isn't very good. Through Lord Medaiel's consideration, we managed to restore some of her strength, but if we had made a mistake, everything might have collapsed before the plan even began."
"Hmm...!"
After the First Heaven-Demon Great War, Luciel, who had cooperated with Baal in the demon realm to build an independent force, withdrew from the demon realm as the Heaven's Fall plan was established in earnest.
And she rashly tampered with the seal of the Incarnation of Apocalypse, leading to the worst outcome of bearing that seal herself.
"A blessing in disguise... Her becoming the guardian of the seal conversely means she can decide when to break the seal. Until then, Gabriel, please devote all your efforts to caring for Luciel."
"Got it."
Gabriel nodded readily.
Luciel's existence was the core of the cores of Heaven's Fall.
At that moment, someone with brown hair flashed through his mind.
'...Rudian.'
How on earth did that guy know about Luciel's physical condition to give such advice?
Following Rudian's advice, the archangels who found Luciel discovered that her condition was more serious than they had thought.
But fortunately, it wasn't the worst case, and with the archangels' concentrated support, Luciel was barely able to recover from her near-death state.
Gabriel, who had been blankly thinking about Rudian, suddenly found himself blurting out these words without realizing it.
"Perhaps our chances of victory aren't that low after all."
Archangel Raziel, who caught those words, asked.
"Interesting. May I know the basis for that thought?"
"Just... it's hard to say anything specific yet."
Rudian's party hadn't yet expressed their intention to participate in the Heaven's Fall plan.
Moreover, the middle realm, which had already overcome a major crisis, had no obligation to help this side.
But the experience and intuition of living as an archangel for long ages was telling him.
'I definitely feel like you and i will end up fighting together...'
***
Rudian returned to Nevan several days after the attack.
"Why are you so late! You said it would take one day!"
As soon as he returned to the Belstad mansion, what greeted Rudian was Rebecca's massive fury after being neglected for several days.
"I'm sorry..."
Rudian bowed his head like a criminal.
Actually, Rudian felt wronged too, because he had just resolved a politically significant incident.
As evidence of this, a noblewoman behind Rudian opened her mouth toward Rebecca with a reluctant tone.
"You're completely like a countess."
"Ah! Oh, hello, Your Grace..."
Sonya Bluephil Bellatrix.
At her appearance, Rebecca's momentum immediately subsided.
Guided inside the mansion, Sonya, true to her reputation as a famous drinker, started by filling her wine glass to the brim with grape wine and began sipping.
Then she sighed as if she had a slight headache.
"First, you overcame a major crisis with your flexible handling. I express gratitude on behalf of the Empire."
"I just solved it incidentally."
"Without that 'incidentally,' war might have broken out on the continent again."
What Sonya and Rudian were discussing was none other than the diplomatic issues between the Morian Empire and the Kingdom of Rohans.
"Certainly, if you hadn't resolved it, things would have become troublesome. Who would have thought that the Queen of Rohans was really being mind-controlled..."
The Queen of Rohans, Terese de Rohans, was unexpectedly not a disguised demon but a pure human.
And when the queen came to her senses after Baal disappeared, she was causing a ruckus, saying she would exterminate the demons...
"If we had let the situation continue as it was, the Kingdom of Rohans itself might have been destroyed."
Even though Baal and other high-ranking Demon Kings had disappeared, formidable Demon King-level demons still remained in the Kingdom of Rohans.
It was just that their response was inadequate because all the leaders were vacant, but in fact, if the demons set their minds to it, recapturing Rohans would be as easy as eating cold porridge.
"But since Agares, who's ranked second, has returned, the chaos will soon subside."
Rudian had concluded several secret treaties with Agares.
The proposal Rudian offered was to recognize the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Rohans and have the demons hide underground.
Just like the situation when Rudian first came to Nevan.
"The backlash must have been considerable... It's fortunate it was resolved well."
"Because I offered a proposal he couldn't refuse."
The card Rudian played in exchange for the liberation of the Kingdom of Rohans was none other than using Utopia to repair Agares's both arms that had been cut off by future Crux.
It was a special situation where regeneration itself was impossible with ordinary healing magic, but Utopia had the ability to overturn even such special circumstances.
"And I promised to build a city later. As a kind of autonomous zone..."
Sonya's eyes widened with surprise.
"...Is that really true? No, before that, is such a thing even possible?"
Rudian answered nonchalantly.
"Coexistence with demons will inevitably become unavoidable now. We should start preparing."
"Hmm..."
Actually, coexistence was already taking place.
The demons who were formerly directly under Leviathan and had now come under Rudian's command.
Some of them were now disguised as humans, infiltrating various parts of Nevan's society.
Now that circumstances had made it impossible to completely drive demons from the continent, it was time to start thinking of alternatives.
Sonya's expression became serious.
"There will be many problems."
From direct issues like the immediate harmful effects of demonic energy on this land, to politics, society, culture of each nation, and so on...
There would be countless matters to consider, integrate, and mediate.
But Rudian was calm.
"We'll have to accept it."
As long as he set up the big framework, he didn't need to consider the details himself.
Rudian had many, many capable people around him.
"Well, fine. Now that there's no one left on the continent to stop whatever you're planning..."
Sonya certified Rudian's completely changed status.
"Now let me talk about the real main point of why I followed you here."
"...Wasn't what we just discussed the main point?"
"Of course not."
As if asking why he was questioning something obvious, Sonya shot Rudian a look.
"It's about my son."
"...Ah."
He had been defeated by future Gray and barely managed to save his life, and even had his Blue World taken away.
Having just stepped slightly into the realm of 10th class, he must have been full of confidence, but that confidence had been shattered by his own self.
"Gray came home and has been holed up in his room with barriers for several days now."
"...Hmm."
"I can't understand at all who he fought to show such a state."
Gray probably knew who he had faced.
That might be why his pride was even more hurt.
"There's a powerful barrier around that room that even I can't break, so I can't get in at all."
That was natural.
The current Gray was practically one of the top five Great Magicians on the continent, even including unofficial ones, in terms of magic.
Rudian nodded as if he understood Sonya's concern.
"If you're that worried, I'll go visit Gray once. He'll probably see me."
Sonya's expression brightened considerably.
"Thank you. Ah, but there is one problem..."
"A problem?"
At Rudian's question, Sonya's expression, which had brightened somewhat, contorted greatly again.
"Actually, there's only one witness, so it's not entirely certain information, but... right before Gray shut himself in his room, a maid witnessed some elf-like woman entering the room with Gray."
"...What?"